NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

Jclombardi’s gameday Packers vs Bills headlines.

Guest senior writer jclombardi @ http://lombardiave.com

Week 2 Game Scout: Bills at Packers–Kickoff: Noon. TV: CBS. Injury report: Questionable–LB Bishop (hamstring), G Colledge (illness), FB Hall (hip), DE Neal (rib/side), CB Underwood (shoulder). Probable–LT Clifton (knee), DE Jenkins (hand), S Martin(ankle), LB Matthews (hamstring), CB Woodson (toe).   Keys to the game–the Bills simply do not match up talent wise with the Packers, one of the favorites to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. Last season, Green Bay was one of the best at scoring points and stopping the run; Buffalo was one of the worst in those departments. Green Bay’s roster is virtually the same while Buffalo’s is weaker with the losses of WR Terrell Owens and DE Aaron Schobel. The only hope for a Buffalo upset is if it can somehow run the ball and limit the touches Packers’ QB Aaron Rodgers has with the ball. If the Bills have to blitz an overabundant amount to get heat on Rodgers, he can name his score with the weapons at his disposal.

Preview: Packers vs. Bills–Stout Bills front, but not much Bills pass rush.  Overload–good Bills returners.

Packers vs Bills Top Matchups:

1. Donte Whitner vs. Jermichael Finley–After an impressive second NFL season last year, the Packers tight end is poised for a big year in Green Bay's highly-productive passing attack. Finley is more of a tight receiver than a tight end with great speed for a player his size (6'5" 247). Whitner is likely to serve as the main coverage defender, but the Bills might be wise to mix things up against him knowing how dominant he can be.

2. Cornell Green vs. Clay Matthews–Matthews was a monster in Week 1 at Philadelphia posting a career high nine tackles, a forced fumble, four QB hits and was eventually credited with three sacks. He's been dealing with a hamstring injury and is on the injury report again this week. Buffalo's veteran right tackle will likely get some assistance from the tight ends and the backs to deal with this handful who witus is a bit up in the air for Sunday. He's technically the team's left cornerback, but figures to be drawing Evans as his primary assignment. Woodson has kicked down into the slot at times, but with Evans being Buffalo's biggest passing threat, the Packers are expected to put the man who tied Jairus Byrd for a league-leading nine interceptions last season on Buffalo's top wll switch sides as his outside linebacker spot throughout the game.

3. Lee Evans vs. Charles Woodson–Woodson is dealing with a toe injury so his status is a bit up in the air for Sunday. He's technically the team's left cornerback, but figures to be drawing Evans as his primary assignment. Woodson has kicked down into the slot at times, but with Evans being Buffalo's biggest passing threat, the Packers are expected to put the man who tied Jairus Byrd for a league-leading nine interceptions last season on Buffalo's top wideout.

Packers Game Plan:

GAME PLAN: Offensively, how much more pass-happy can the Packers offense get now that featured back Ryan Grant is out the rest of the season because of a broken ankle? Conventional wisdom is head coach/play caller McCarthy has the convenient excuse to get greedy and have Rodgers throw at will, especially against an ordinary, short-handed Bills defense.  McCarthy won't stoop to being so one-dimensional and predictable. He has a lot of confidence in Grant's replacement, Jackson, as an every-down back and will want to get Jackson in the flow of carrying the football. Defensively, the Packers' priority will be to stop the run as the Bills roll through a triple threat of Spiller, Jackson and Lynch. By putting Buffalo in difficult down-and-distance situations, defensive coordinator Capers can have his pass-rushing charges pin their ears back and force an easily flustered Edwards into mistakes. After Masthay did a terrific job with his directional punts of pinning the Eagles' Jackson along the sideline in the opener, look for Crosby to angle his kickoffs to one side or the other to keep the dangerous Spiller from being a spoiler.

Packers’ Finley fights to break free: Just about anywhere Finley went last week, he got double-covered. ”I think they did a little bit of everything,” Packers offensive coordinator Joe Philbin said. “I think they have a multiple defense and utilized some of those techniques. I’m sure some teams make it difficult to get off the line of scrimmage, get physical and slow him down. Some will give help over the top.” Of the 54 official plays in which Finley took part, on 21 of them he was lined up wide as a receiver and on eight he stood up in a slot position. In other words, more than half the plays he took part in were designed to help get him free.

Sports Gab Network Editor Matt Loede previews the NFL Week two matchup between the Bills and Packers in Green Bay.

Sports Gab Network Editor Matt Loede previews the NFL Week two matchup between the Eagles and Lions in Detroit.

Sports Gab Network Editor Matt Loede previews the NFL Week two matchup between the Cardinals and Falcons in Atlanta.

We in the media are usually guilty of throwing out certain terms in sports that aren't actually applicable, and possibly the guiltiest phrase of them all is "must win." It's week 2 of the NFL season–thus, no team faces a "must win" moment.

For those interested, must win games are saved for those games in which when a team loses, they are eliminated. Obviously, any NFL playoff game is a "must win" situation. The problem is, we haven't really coined the phrase that would fit for the next tier down the ladder from "must."

Once we figure out what that word is, feel free to apply it to this Sunday's Raiders game. If they don't win they'll be 0-2 for the 4th time in the past 6 seasons, and the "Here we go again" chorus will be resounding throughout Raider Nation. And with good reason. I mean, it's not like Drew Brees and the Saints are marching into town.

No, instead it's rookie quarterback Sam Bradford and the St. Louis Rams. The 1-15 Rams from a year ago. That's why the Raiders really need to win this one on Sunday. But "need win" just isn't as sexy as "must win."

Nonetheless, Vegas thinks it's a game the Raiders should win. For just the third time in 2+ seasons, the Raiders find themselves favorites. Of course, the other two times they not only didn't cover, but lost straight up. This time has to be different. A loss at home to the Rams would be devastating not only for their record, but for the morale of the entire team. A rookie quarterback making his 2nd career start, and first ever on the road–the stars are aligned for the Raiders to even their record after two weeks of play, and 1-1 is much more reasonable than 0-2.

1-1 means they head to Arizona in a good frame of mind.

0-2 is a disaster.

1-1 means, hey, we can do this. We righted the ship. It's only the Rams, but a win is a win.

0-2 is Titanic time. The ship is going down. It's no iceberg, but it's a lonnnnnnng season ahead. An 8th straight year of double-digit losses.

1-1 and the players have rebounded. They've bought into Head Coach Tom Cable's system.

0-2 and Cable is on the hot seat. Really early for that, but someone's gonna roll, and it ain't gonna be the kick-return guy.

1-1 and the Raiders could be tied for first.

0-2 and the Raiders are in last. Tied with nobody. Last is last.

The Raiders have to win this game. They need to win this game. They should win this game. It's just not a "must win". Or is it?

Sports Gab Network Editor Matt Loede previews the NFL Week two matchup between the Pats and Jets Sunday in New Jersey.

The Saints defense played extremely well against the Minnesota Vikings to start the 2010 regular season, holding future Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre to 171 yards and the usually-unstoppable Adrian Peterson to just 88 yards rushing.

While the offense didn't enjoy its best day (posting only 14 points), it certainly missed its share of opportunities to run away with the game.

There were too many dropped passes from receivers who are usually more sure-handed and a couple of missed field goals that would've ordinarily amounted to nothing more than chip shots for our normally-dependable kicker, Garrett Hartley. It was a hard-fought game in which the Saints emerged victorious–thankfully. Now, they must turn around and do it all over again.

The San Francisco 49ers are coming off a humiliating loss against their division rival, Seattle and you can bet they are going to be fired up.

They found it difficult to run against the Seahawks and QB Alex Smith looked downright uncomfortable in the pocket, so the passing game was atrocious. But can we expect the same thing when the Saints march into town this Monday night for the primetime showdown in Candlestick Park? I say, hold the horses on that.

The Saints know that they're going to have their hands full trying to shut down the 49ers workhorse, Frank Gore. But now, they'll also have to contend with the break-out sensation, Anthony Dixon, who looked very impressive during the preseason.

Because the 49ers are typically a run first offense, I look for them to hit the Saints defense with their version of the one-two punch in an effort to wear them down, then mix things up with some check-down passes from Alex Smith to keep the chains moving. He will look for his dynamic second-year receiver, Michael Crabtree and his trusty tightend, Vernon Davis to try to stretch the field and pick up chunks of yardage down the field. Does any of this sound familiar?

While the 49ers and Vikings are totally different teams, their gameplans are very similar–run, run to wear the defense down then catch them off guard with a bomb down the field. Fortunately, the Saints cornerbacks are excellent in coverage, so Davis will see a lot of passes thrown his way (like Shiancoe did).

As for Smith to Crabtree, they were so out of sync against the Seahawks, it led to too many costly turnovers. I expect them to be more in tune with each other come Monday night though, but Greer and Porter will be ready. And you know Gregg Williams has something in store that no one is going to be expecting. Look for his guys to line up periodically in a 3-4 defensive front just to throw a bit of a wrinkle at Smith and his offensive line, something they had a lot of success with against Minnesota. It held the Vikings to only 2 first downs in the second half!

Also, expect to see the Saints defense continue to focus on stopping the run, which also means there will be fewer blitzes and more dropping back into coverage. Although the defense will not be as opportunistic, it doesn't mean it will play with any less intensity. These guys are tough and they are very good at making adjustments. They may give up some yards in the beginning, but once they settle down and make their adjustments, they should be able to keep things in check.

The 49er defense, on the other hand, is the real deal. They have a very good 3-4 defensive front, which has been known to give the Saints' offense some difficulty. But when you have a quarterback as capable as Drew Brees who can stretch the field or work the short-yardage passes to his advantage, scoring won't be that big of an issue.

Look for Pierre Thomas to pick up decent yards behind the superior blocking of guards, Jahri Evans and Carl Nicks, while Reggie Bush will split out wide, mostly as a decoy; don't be surprised though if this turns out to be a breakout game for Bush. The Saints were a bit conservative in the season opener, but I expect Coach Payton to open up the playbook in this one and give Brees and company a chance to exploit the 49ers thin secondary (which should have problems matching up with the Saints' three and four receiver sets).

And I bet you won't see nearly as many dropped passes this go around because we all know what a stickler for perfection Coach Payton is; he simply won't tolerate errors like that. Still and all, you know that if that 49er defensive front, led by ProBowl MLB Patrick Willis, has anything to say about it, it's going to be another slug fest in which the Saints will have to fight and claw for every yard.

Let's not take anything for granted here, Saints fans. The 49ers are still a very good team that only missed the playoffs last year by a game or two. Defensively, they are one of the tops in the league. Once they get clicking on offense, they are tough to defend. Our Saints need to be focused and they need to be ready. If they step onto that field in the right mindset, they will be tough to beat by any opponent. I predict a Saints win 38-24.